


Detached, Reattached

by sartiebodyshots



Series: Though I'd Loved To Stay Forever, This Is Why I Can't Remain [3]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: F/F, Gen, Lesbian Courier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-30 22:13:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15105896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sartiebodyshots/pseuds/sartiebodyshots
Summary: August is back from the Big Empty, more or less intact.  And boy, does she have a story to tell.





	Detached, Reattached

“What exactly happened?” Arcade repeats from his chair. 

“Arcade.  You were there.  We’ve been over this nearly daily,” Veronica says.  She looks over at him from where she’s sprawled in her bunk.  “We even had ED-E replay the holo a dozen times.”

“But you can’t just disappear!  She was just gone!” Arcade says.  “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Listen, I know you’re worried about her.  I am, too,” Veronica says with a sigh. “But August will be back.”

Arcade watches Veronica critically.  While she seems to have bounced back from the incident with the Brotherhood, it still seems to have made her different.  It makes sense- how could such rejection  _ not _ change you- but Arcade’s not sure how.  He still worries for his friend, regardless.

“She  _ will _ be back,” Arcade says.  “Probably with some unbelievable story about where she was.”

Veronica snorts and stares up at the ceiling.  

* * *

When August walks in this time, she’s wearing a weird looking set of armor.  There are three halos around her head, and there’s a glowing axe strapped to her back.  It looks like she’s got new scarring on her head, but there’s still a smile on her face.

“So, uh, sorry about that,” August says.  “I did not-  _ oof. _ ”

August is cut off by Veronica running into her, wrapping her arms around her and holding her tight.  It makes August’s cheeks turn bright red as her hair brushes against her skin. 

_ Heart rate elevated.  Administering Med-X. _

“Wait!” August says.  “What did we say about administering Med-X?”

_ Sorry _ .

“What was that?” Arcade asks.  

“That’s my stealthsuit.  I call her Mika,” August says.  “It’s been a weird trip.”

“And what happened to your head?” Arcade asks.  “Are you okay?”

Veronica has tucked herself under August’s arm, like she’s trying to support her.  It’s not that she needs the help, but she looks so much older than she did before. Every time she leaves, she comes back with deeper lines and shadows under her eyes.  It scares Veronica.

“Oh, Arcade, you are going to love this,” August says with a grin.  “I got my brain and spine taken out- then put back; my brain is a  _ dick _ , by the way.  I also got my heart taken out, but I didn’t put that back.  I’m fine, though.”

Arcade gives August a long look, before he looks helplessly at Veronica who just shrugs.  It’s a long stretch of silence before he crosses over to his pack. He rummages in his pack for a minute before pulling out a flask of what looks like whiskey.

August watches with a raised eyebrow as he unscrews the lid and takes a big swig.  Arcade considers her for a moment and takes another swig. 

“Just wait until I tell you about my new, uh, people I know?- the Think Tank.  They’re brains in jars. They float and do science! They’re the ones who took my brain and other organs out,” August says, chipper as ever.  “I wouldn’t say we’re friends now, but they’re interesting.”

Arcade hands Veronica the whiskey and she swallows down a mouthful of her own.  

“The Think Tank?” Veronica asks.

“Let’s sit down, I’ll explain, and then I can prove to you that I got all those body parts taken out,” August says.  “The Sink Auto Doc wanted to get rid of the scars, but I said, no way, Arcade won’t believe me if there’s no scar.” 

Arcade takes the whiskey back.

* * *

After August has explained to them about the Big Empty- The Think Tank, Doctor Mobius, the horrors trapped inside, and her mechanical friends in the Sink- she takes off Mika.  The computer voice rings out a plaintive whine as she does so, and August hops up on the exam table. 

“Are you sure that you’re comfortable with me in here?” Veronica asks.  

“Don’t worry,” August says, as she unbuttons her shirt.  “It’s fine.” 

Her shirt hangs open, and she watches her friends’ faces.  She knows she doesn’t  _ need _ to prove anything to them- for all of Arcade’s dry jokes about her lying about getting shot, he always believed her- but that doesn’t mean she’s not curious about how they’ll react to what  _ should _ be impossible.

“You weren’t kidding,” Veronica says, wide eyed.  

“She could’ve just gotten stabbed in the chest really clean,” Arcade says, bending a little closer.  

August grins, holding her hand out to Veronica.  “Can I have your hand?”

“Sure?”

Ignoring the knowing look that Arcade gives her, August takes Veronica’s wrist.  She maneuvers it carefully, so her hand is resting right over where her heart used to be.

Veronica frowns after a moment when August releases her wrist.  She readjusts, trying to find a heartbeat that August knows isn’t there any longer.  

“I’d say my heart beats for you, but, well…” August says with a grin.

That doesn’t even elicit a groan or an eyeroll.  Veronica must be concerned. 

“Let me try,” Arcade says, taking his stethoscope out.  “I’ll find the heartbeat.”

Veronica shuffles to let Arcade in.  

“You’re not going to find a heartbeat, my friend,” August says.  “I have no heart to beat.”

Arcade presses the stethoscope diaphragm to her chest.  The metal is chilly, and August shivers a little.

“That’s cold, Arcade,” August says dryly.  “I expect a higher level of patient care from the Followers.”

“You said your brain was a dick, hm?” Arcade says, rubbing his stethoscope to warm it up.  “Can’t imagine that.”

When he presses the stethoscope against her chest again, it’s warm.  He keeps pressing and readjusting, face growing more puzzled as he doesn’t hear a heartbeat.  August finds Arcade’s puzzlement amusing, but not so much how hard he’s pressing to try to find her heartbeat.

“If you leave bruises, I’m going to be pissed,” August warns him.  “Patient care, Doctor Gannon.”

“I just… It’s just a weird rushing noise in your chest,” Arcade says.  “No heartbeat at all. That’s not what your heart should sound like.”

“Told ya.  I’m heartless, baby,” August says with a wink.  “Now, I haven’t seen my back scar- apparently mirrors are a no in the world of scientific advancement-, but I bet it’s impressive.”

August shrugs off her shirt slowly.  Then she lays down on her stomach, bunching her shirt up under her chin.  

“Oh, August…” Veronica says softly.

August tilts her head so she’s looking up at Veronica.  Her face is twisted with concern that matches Arcade’s. 

“How long is it?” August asks, looking forward again.  

Veronica’s finger starts right at the base of her skull.  The warmth trails down her spine, bumping along the ridges.  It skips over her sports bra, then keeps going. Down, down, until August is starting to worry about how far her finger is going to go.  

Finally, her finger stops, just at the top of her asscrack.  Ah, so it’s her whole back then. That makes sense, considering her whole spine was taken out and then put back in, but she hadn’t quite considered it yet.

“It’s healed over like you’ve had the scar for months,” Arcade says, lightly brushing a finger over the scarring on her neck.  “Incredible.”

“Doc does good work,” August says.  “There’s nothing interesting in my spine, though.  I had it put my real spine back in my body.”

“And there’s no pain?  No lingering effects from, well, any of it?” Veronica asks.

“Feels weird not to have a heart.  Like, you expect to feel your heart beating, but it doesn’t,” August says.  “Otherwise, I feel better than ever.”

“And your brain?” Arcade asks.

“I felt lightheaded when it wasn’t in there, so I put it back,” August says.  “Plus, got tired of listening to it complain about me.”

Arcade sighs, fingers now examining her skull.  He’s presumably looking for the scars from the brain operation.  

“I’m fine you guys.  I promise,” August says.  

“And you let the people who did this to you live?” Veronica asks.  

“I mean, I rigged it so if they ever try to leave or send anything out of the Big Empty, their tanks will explode,” August says.  “Wouldn’t want them getting out. They’re relics, of the old world, and they’re… sad, I guess. Trapped in jars, trapped in jars...”

August clicks her tongue in thought, trailing off.

“You have the weirdest soft spots,” Veronica says.  

August snorts.  “Maybe I’ll take you to meet them sometime.”

“I’m keeping my brain where it is, thank you,” Arcade interjects.

“No worries.  I reprogrammed the auto docs.  No more lobotomites,” August says.  “And they can only be reprogrammed by someone with fingers now.  I doubt Dala or Klein can write much in the way of code these days.”

“I think the scarring goes all the way around your skull,” Arcade says.  “Here, sit up.”

August does so.  She waits patiently while Arcade keeps following the lines of the scars.  His face is full of professional concern, but August knows him well enough by now to  know when he’s hiding something deeper- not that he’s ever been good at hiding it.

“I’m okay, Arcade,” August says.  “I promise. Getting shot in the head is good for something after all.”

Arcade’s eyes narrow, and August realizes that she’s said the wrong thing to ease his, ah, dis-ease.  

“Doctor Mobius- not part of the Think Tank, remember- said that my brain is wrinkled from getting shot, so I was able to like, reconnect with my brain.  Or something,” August explains. 

She doesn’t joke about turning into a lobotomite, out of respect for the fact that they both seem deeply upset already.  August doesn’t get it, not really. After all, she’s back and everything works just fine. That’s what matters. Joking makes it all okay.

Maybe something in her has gotten scrambled along the way, and it’s why she’s a bit different.  She wonders if she was always like this.

“Real glad you got shot, then,” Veronica adds, voice shaking just a little.

“Thanks, Veronica,” August says.  “Me, too.”

Without it, she may never have met Veronica or Arcade.  It’s worth it. Even when Arcade goes back to trying to find a heartbeat.  

* * *

“I think my chest is going is be black and blue tomorrow morning,” August says.

“Arcade wants to make sure that you’re not about to drop dead,” Veronica says.  “Having no heart stretches even his belief.”

August is silent for a long moment, kicking her heels back against the brick.  They’ve climbed up the ramparts of the Old Mormon Fort, and they’re looking out over the twinkly lights of Freeside and the Strip.  It’s a pretty sight, but it’s so much, after the quiet darkness of the Big Empty.

“And that man believes a lot,” August says.  

“Yeah, he does,” Veronica says, soft.

They’re quiet for a while again.  August imperceptibly moves closer to the other woman.  She missed Veronica so much it kind of scares her. She wants Veronica to have missed her, too; she doesn’t want Veronica to have missed her at all because she could’ve died or disappeared, again.  

“Sorry that I left again,” August finally says.  

Veronica tilts her head to look over at her.

“I saw you get taken.  I know you didn’t just disappear,” Veronica says.  

“I’m still sorry,” August says.  

“Okay,” Veronica says.  “We’re okay. I promise.”

August pulls out a holotape and hands it to her.  

“I found more of Elijah’s holotapes.  He was at the Big Empty before I was. I don’t know if you want to hear it or not, but I thought I should let you know,” August says.  “It’s just his observations.”

Veronica examines the holotape with a sigh.  She runs her fingers over the holotape, slowly, carefully, as if she’s trying to figure out whether she wants to hear it or not.  

“I think… Elijah is the past.  Now, I want to focus on what I’m making here,” Veronica says, handing her back the holotape.  Her warm fingers brush against August’s as she curls her own fingers around the tape. “With, you know, Arcade and stuff.”

“Yeah,” August says, tucking the holotape in her pocket.  “I get that.”

They sit up on the rampart for a while longer.  August tilts her head, just a little, so she can watch Veronica out of the corner of her eye.  Her hood is down, face tilted towards the moon. The wind tangles in her hair, and August finds herself suddenly envious of the night air.  

“I’m glad that I’m back here.  I missed you. And Arcade. And just…” August trails off, inhaling deeply.  “This. I can't wait to get on the road again.” 

“Sure that not-heart of yours is going to hold up under the pressure of traveling?”

There's a joke in her sly grin, in the tilt of her head as she looks over at August.  But there's also concern in the slight waver of her voice. 

“Yeah,” August assures her.  “It’s sturdy. It’ll probably keep pumping long after I’m gone.”

That is… probably not the most comforting thing to mention, August realizes as soon as it slips out of her mouth.  It certainly doesn’t comfort her to think of her body going on after her ravaged brain has died, after seeing the trauma harnesses in the Big Empty.  

Heart suddenly pounding, August closes the gap between them, wrapping an arm around Veronica.  She wants the other woman to feel how solidly real she is; she wants to feel that she is solidly here.  

Veronica relaxes against her, after a minute.  They sit like that long enough for the streets to clear out and the Strip to quiet down.  

Yeah, it’s good to be home.

 


End file.
